Here, beinginterviewed on the Jon Stewart program (date unknown), is a trashy-looking broad, Paula Broadwell, who wrote a biography of Gen. Petreaus when he was in Afghanistan and had an affair with him which, when it was discovered by the FBI, caused him to resign today as head of the CIA.

What does it say about our society that the author of a biography of a prominent Army general dressed like this for a TV interview about her book? And what does it say about Petreaus that he agreed to have a type like Broadwell write his biography? Listen to her little-girl voice.

But having written the above, I must ask: considering what happened to America this week, is there any point in continuing to write this kind of cultural criticism? That thought is continued in the next entry.

- end of initial entry -

James P. writes:

Here is the bio of the “trashy looking broad” — West Point (“number one in physical fitness in West Point’s Class of 1995”), dual masters degrees in International Security and Conflict Resolution from the University of Denver and a master’s degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Deputy Director of the Jebsen Center for Counter-Terrorism Studies at Tufts, and pursuing a doctorate at King’s College in London.

Note the picture of her with her husband and two sons.

As a senior Army Captain, Broadwell cleared many of the hurdles to enter into the world of black operations. But despite deep professional satisfaction and a unique opportunity, Paula traded her active duty commission for one in the Army reserves. “It was my own inability to balance work and family. I had just become engaged. Entering black ops was a lifelong dream and I questioned the choice for sometime but soon realized I would find my way via other professional outlets, which I truly have! And I am blessed to have an incredible family life, and a sense of work-life balance. The important lesson for me is that you can have it all, just not all at the same time.”

LA replies:

How do you square the way she looks in her family photo and the way she looks on the Jon Stewart program? What it says to me is, America has become so systematically trashy that even people with all kinds of impressive-sounding accomplishments and credentials are trashy. Trashy is the new norm.

Allan Wall writes:

Remember Petraus was the same general who meddled in civilian affairs in order to dissuade Terry Jones from burning the Koran.

Another example of the degradation and liberalization of our military leadership.

Joseph S. writes:

Almost everyone wants to be a celebrity. Recall the even more execrable need for the limelight that caused General Stanley McChrystal to give a candid interview to Rolling Stone (!), which ended up costing him his job.

LA replies:

Exactly. That top general, Petraeus’s predecessor in Afghanistan, a man leading a major war, a man supposedly an icon of self-discipline, spent large amounts of time hanging out with a reporter from a countercultural publication and in the process lost any sense of restraint on his speech.

LA continues:

Also, it’s funny and instructive how Petraeus, repeatedly described as the most capable military officer of his generation, learned nothing from the fall of McChrystal, but instead, like a sleep-walker, followed in McChrystal’s footsteps to his own downfall. McChrystal gave a Rolling Stone reporter permission to spend lots of personal time with him to write a profile/interview, and in the process he got so loose and spoke so imprudently that he had to be fired from his job as top commander in Afghanistan. Petraeus was picked to succeed McChrystal (in fact, Petraeus, the commander in chief of Central Command and thus McChrystal’s superior, had to step down in the military hierarchy in order to replace the garrulous Stanley). Then a woman with a little-girl voice and lots of degrees shows up at Petraeus’s headquarters in Afghanistan, bats her eyes at him, and proposes that she write his biography. He says sure, and while she, a married woman, is interviewing him, a married man, for his biography they spend lots of personal time together, including regularly jogging together, and he ends up having an affair with her, and thus, when the truth comes out two years later, loses his job as head of the CIA.